The ABCs of 'I Love You'
by Belle Walker
Summary: Alphabet blocks help to pass the time.  Like an unsharpened pencil, this story is long and pointless.


"Boom!"

"Boom," Jack agreed mildly for the zillionth time, watching the tower of squishy foam alphabet blocks explode into chaos courtesy of the plush ball clenched in his daughter's little hands.

Jack was pretty sure he was on the verge of losing his mind. How could a person play with baby blocks all day and _not_ go crazy?

He missed his Sam. He missed his _sleep_, too. Apparently Emma had no need for sleep anymore, evidenced by three failed attempts at naptime today.

"Aren't you sleepy yet?" he asked the toddler. The only response he got was a foam block to the forehead and a giggle of delight.

He sighed, picking up the block. His sanity demanded a respite from the mindless playing. He needed to do something that required intelligence.

"Emma? Emma, look." He drew the child's attention to one side of the alphabet block. "A," he told her a letter's name. "Say it," he encouraged. "A".

"Ah," Emma mimicked, reaching out a finger to poke the letter.

"Good! What starts with 'A'?"

_Affection_, that started with 'A'. If he wasn't out cold from exhaustion when Sam got home, he'd show her some affection.

Jack set the block down on the floor and picked up another one. "B," he told Emma. "Beautiful. That's what Mommy is."

'C' followed, with Jack telling Emma that she was _cute_.

'D' joined the row. Sam was _devious_ at times, like today when she managed to skip off to work and leave him behind with their cute little Energizer-bunny of a daughter.

'E'. "Elegant," Jack murmured aloud. "That hot little dress Sam had on last night."

'F'…._funny_. Sam still laughed at his jokes, even when they weren't funny.

He hunted for the letter 'G'. _Geeky_, which is what Sam became any time she started in on her technobabble.

Sam was also _helpful_ and _independent_. Jack lined up 'H' and 'I'.

'J'. Jack had won the _jackpot_ when he'd married Sam. No buts about that.

He picked up the letter 'K'. "Kiss," he said quietly with a little smile. He would do some of that when Sam got home.

'L'. Loyal. Sam was loyal, and he was too.

Jack started a second row of blocks on the floor as Emma padded back over to investigate the first row.

'M' was for _mommy_, because Sam was mommy to this darling little sweetheart who was playing blocks with him.

'N'. Jack grinned to himself. _Naughty_. That was how they'd ended up with Emma.

Sam had also been _optimistic_ and _patient_ with his constant worrying over her throughout the pregnancy.

'Q'. It was much too _quiet_ in the house. Jack was looking forward to hearing Emma start to speak whole sentences and really talk to him.

Jack picked up three more letters, muttering pointedly to himself, "It would be _refreshing_ to _sleep_ _tonight_."

'V'…oh, wait; 'U' comes first.

'U'. _Umbrella_. It had nothing to do with Sam or Emma, but there was one by the door over there. Jack put the 'U' in its place in the row of blocks.

Now for 'V'. _Very_, because Jack was pretty sure he had the very best world right now, playing with his little girl even though he was awfully tired.

'W'. _Water_? Again, a word having nothing to do with either of his favorite girls aside from a reminder that he'd forgotten to give Emma her bath today. Oh well, it wasn't like she could actually get dirty from playing on their newly-shampooed carpet.

'X'…he got stuck on that one. Jack thought for a moment, then chucked the letter over his shoulder. Who needed 'X' anyway?

He picked up 'Y' and 'Z'. He was still _young_ at heart. Sam was, too.

And 'Z'...well, he needed to catch up on his Z's. If only Emma would let him.

But she wasn't at all in the mood for a nap. She was bouncing around the living room once more with her happy giggles filling the air.

Jack sighed at his daughter's boundless energy. He yawned, then sleepily gathered the foam alphabet blocks into a pile again. "Come on, Em," he called the toddler back over. "Let's land some more spaceships."

* * *

"Hey," Sam called as she came into the front door. "I'm home."

"In here," Jack's voice answered back.

Sam dropped her keys onto the table by the door and followed his voice into the living room. "What are you guys doing?"

Jack, lounging on the floor stretched out on his side, grinned up at her. "We're building pyramids."

"Pyramids?" Sam echoed.

"Yep. Landing pads, to be exact."

Sam rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Watch this. Emma," Jack got his daughter's attention, putting the round plush ball into her little hands. "Show Mommy how the spaceship lands."

Aww, this was just too cute not to play along. Sam crouched down on the floor. "Show Mommy, Emma," she encouraged. "Land the spaceship."

Emma squished the fuzzy toy in her hands for a moment, then brought it crashing down on top of the pyramid. "Boom!"

To her delight, foam cubes flew everywhere.

"Nice!" Jack praised his daughter's spaceship-landing skills. "That just never gets old," he said to Sam with a laugh.

Sam gave him a lovingly concerned look. "Been landing a lot of spaceships lately?"

"Pretty much all day," Jack confirmed unashamedly. "And I think if Emma doesn't become a pilot of some sort when she grows up…she'll have a great career in building demolition."

Sam snorted in agreement, settling down on the carpet with her back against the front of the couch. She crossed her long legs Indian-style and cradled her daughter in her lap. "She does love to knock things down."

Jack gathered the scattered blocks into a haphazard pile, picking out five particular cubes and setting them aside.

He sat up and scooted next to Sam, stretching his legs out and draping an arm around her shoulders. "How was your day?"

"Good," she answered with a grin. "We found a new Delta site, stole another alien craft, and I even got to shoot Maybourne."

"You shot Maybourne?" Jack's voice raised in surprised amusement. "Lucky."

Sam shrugged modestly and leaned into his side. "It was just a zat gun, but still…"

Jack chuckled, his attention again focused on the foam alphabet blocks he'd set aside.

He set one bearing an 'L' on Sam's leg. 'O', 'V' and 'E' soon followed, creating a short trail from her thigh to her knee.

"Jack, what are you doing?"

"Shh…I'm spelling," he said in a stage whisper. He picked up the last letter, 'U', and plopped it onto Sam's thigh.

"Love U," Sam read out loud. "Aww." She rewarded him with a sweet kiss. "Love you, too."

Still trapped in her mother's arms, little Emma squirmed. She grabbed the nearest block off Sam's leg and whacked it into another one. "Boom!"


End file.
